


A Short Fic About Love

by strawberrylovely



Category: Shance - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, College AU, Drunk Lance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Unrequited Love, shance, title is based on a movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-29 02:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12621448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylovely/pseuds/strawberrylovely
Summary: Shiro, a college student, is in love with his best friend Lance. Lance, however, has a boyfriend. Yet somehow, Shiro is the one that ends up helping Lance while he's drunk.





	A Short Fic About Love

**Author's Note:**

> hey this is complete self indulgence and my own projecting lol hope u enjoy <3

"Shirooooooo! WHOO!"

"Here we go again," Shiro muttered to himself as he walked into Lance's dorm room.

Lance was drunk, as he had been multiple times in the past month. And somehow Shiro was the one that always had to deal with him. Not Lance's boyfriend or his other best friends, no. Shiro. Every time. Not that Shiro exactly minded, of course. He loved spending time with Lance. Well, he loved Lance. A lot.

"Hey, Lance. What's up?"

"I'm...inebriated," Lance said, throwing a hand up for grandeur.

"I noticed."

Lance was playing music and dancing around in his room and he stretched his arm out towards Shiro.

"Will you dance with me?"

"I don't think that's-"

"Oh! Actually!" he said, turning the music off. "Let's do face masks! I wanna put one on you, let me put one on you, okay Shiro?"

"No thank you. I don't think I trust you to put _anything_ on my face when you're drunk."

"Aww, come onnnnn..."

Shiro smiled at the drunk boy's pleading expression, but shook his head 'no', not wanting to give in.

"Fine! I'll do one myself."

"Alright, Lance."

Shiro watched from Lance's bedroom as the brunet glomped the mixture onto his face over the sink in his bathroom.

"You gotta rub it in real good to get the maximum effect," Lance slurred.

"And what effect would that be?"

"The uh... the face effect."

"...Okay," Shiro laughed to himself.

Lance wasn't a very intelligent person when he was drunk, like most people. But the way he acted and the slight change of his personality was something Shiro actually found humorous, compared to the annoyance he felt around other drunk people. Maybe it was the fact that they were best friends and Shiro knew how to deal with Lance better than drunk strangers. Or maybe it was just because Shiro was in love with him.

"There, all finished!" Lance said, pulling Shiro from his thoughts. He turned around and Shiro saw that his face was a mess, green goo unevenly spread over his features. "Now we just gotta wait for it to dry and then wash it off."

"What would you like to do while you wait, then?"

"Um...well I haven't finished my bottle of whiskey yet, do you want some? It's gooooood. I'll pour you a glass."

"No, no. I don't want a drink, thank you though."

"Oh, sure thing. We could watch a movie then?"

"Did you tell me to come over just to watch a movie with you while you're drunk?"

"No! I told you to come over because I was lonely and Lotor's out doing something so he couldn't come and I missed you so I asked you to come over because I love you."

Shiro's heart jumped in his chest at the sentiment. He knew Lance meant it in a platonic manner, but he couldn't help but feel hopeful that there was a hidden meaning behind it.

"Let's watch a movie, okay?"

"Okay," Shiro nodded, coming back to himself.

"Here, sit on the couch and I'll put it on," Lance said, wobbling over to the tv as Shiro sat down.

As the movie started, Lance plopped down onto the couch next to Shiro. He cuddled up to him, somehow aware enough to keep his face away so none of the green stuff would get on Shiro's clothes.

"You're so strong, grrr," Lance said, poking at Shiro's bicep.

"Thank you," Shiro said, glad that Lance had turned the light off so his blush was hidden.

About ten minutes into the movie, Shiro saw Lance picking at the mask on his face.

"Ohh..." Lance drawled.

"What?"

"I don't want this."

"You wanna take it off?"

"Yes."

"Do you need help?"

"Yes."

Shiro paused the movie and stood up, helping Lance onto his feet as well. They walked into the bathroom and Shiro sat Lance on the toilet lid. Shiro pulled out a towel from Lance's cabinet and ran it under warm water before he started wiping Lance's face off.

"Hold still, Lance."

"I'm trying."

Shiro wiped his face off in silence, trying to get every bit of green that he could without hurting Lance. As tedious as it was, Shiro secretly enjoyed the close intimacy of cleaning Lance's face for him. He got to touch Lance's face for a long period of time without fear of it being weird and the way the boy's eyes looked at him as he worked warmed his insides.

"Shiro?"

"Yes, Lance?"

"Do you still like me even though I'm dating Lotor?"

Shiro stopped his movements and looked at Lance's sad face.

"What? Of course I do. You're one of my best friends in the whole world."

"I know but... I know you don't like him and it probably hurts you a lot that he's my boyfriend and not you."

"Oh."

Right. Lance knew Shiro was in love with him. As if Shiro wasn't obvious enough, the other boy found out one night when he confronted Shiro about his awkwardness around him. Shiro had confessed, but Lance was already with Lotor and didn't feel the same. So they continued on normally - well, as normally as you can knowing your best friend in is love with you.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, Shiro," Lance said quietly, his eyes watering slightly.

"That's alright, Lance. I understand."

"I mean, look! You're here and Lotor isn't! He's not even that good of a boyfriend when you're the one helping me. You'd be such a good boyfriend, Shiro. I'm so sorry."

Shiro didn't know what to say. Talking about it was painful enough, but Lance was saying nonsense that he probably wasn't even aware of. That hurt just as much.

"I- It's okay, Lance. I'm your friend, I'm happy to help," he tried. He started cleaning Lance's face off again, hoping to change the subject.

"I want you to be happy. I wish I could give that to you, but I can't."

"I know," Shiro said, pushing his emotions down deeper. "Let's stop talking about it, okay, Lance?" he asked softly.

"Okay. Are you done wiping my face off yet?"

"Yes, let me get this last bit. Alright, I'm done."

"Thank you! You're so nice. Wow, I am very sleepy."

Lance tried to stand up, but he fell right back down onto his seat.

"Whoops!"

"Do you need some help to stand?" Shiro asked.

"Yes, please."

Shiro helped Lance up and walked him into his room, leading him to his bed. As Shiro was leaning down to help Lance sit, Lance lost his balance and pulled Shiro down with him. Shiro lifted his head and realized he was laying on top of Lance on his bed. He quickly tried to get up, but Lance clung to him like a koala.

"Don't leave yet!"

"Lance-"

"Pleeeease stay with me. At least until I fall asleep."

"I... How about this. You let go of me, and I will sit on the side of your bed until you fall asleep. Is that okay?"

"Mmhmm."

Lance let go and crawled under the covers as Shiro sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Shiro. You're the best."

"Anytime, Lance."

Shiro ran a hand over Lancers forehead, pushing his bangs back. The younger man leaned into the touch, prompting Shiro to do it again. He repeated the gesture multiple times until he heard the even breathing that meant Lance was asleep. He then got up slowly, turned off the light, and left Lance's room.

 

Two days later, Shiro was sitting at a table outside the school cafe when a very distraught Lance walked past him.

"Lance?"

"Huh? Oh, Shiro!"

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Uh... No. Not really."

"Do you want to sit?"

"Yeah, thank you."

Lance sat down in the chair next to Shiro and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asked.

"I-I just broke up with Lotor."

"What?" Shiro asked. Part of him was worried for his friend, while the other was rejoicing that the main cause of his jealousy and grief was finally out of the picture. "Why, what happened?" he asked, ignoring his inner contradiction.

"Well, okay, so he came over a little bit ago and we were hanging out, laying on my bed. And he turned to look at me and when he did, I guess he caught a whiff of something and he started smelling my comforter. Of course I was like 'what are you doing?' and he said that he smelled something and I said 'what?' and he said 'guy's cologne.' Then I said, 'it's probably mine' and he said 'no, I know your cologne and this doesn't smell like it.' And then he stands up and starts yelling at me, saying that I had another guy there and what was he doing in my bed and was I cheating on him and how dare I go behind his back like that. So I yelled back that he was being paranoid and that I wasn't cheating on him and that I couldn't believe he would accuse me of that. But he didn't believe me and he just kept yelling and so I said that I was tired of him not trusting me and never being there for me anyway, and he said he was tired of me being needy. When he said that, I just got so mad at him that I told him to get out of my room and that we were over. He left after that and the past two hours I've been in my room crying and trying to rationalize it all out."

"Whoah. Okay."

"Sorry, that was kind of a word dump."

"It's fine. Are you okay, though?"

"Yes! I'm great. I mean I'm a little shaken up still, but I'm glad that I did it."

"I'm happy for you then."

"Thank you. This is probably bitchy, but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. Like, now that I think about it, I've been wanting to break up with him for a while. He wasn't who I want to spend the rest of my life with, he wasn't helping me become a better person. Honestly, I think he was making me become a worse person. That's why I've been drinking so much recently, because I've been trying to drown out my negative emotions for him with alcohol."

"That's not healthy."

"You're right. And neither was that relationship. He wasn't good for me. And if I'm being honest, I don't think I really loved him anymore."

"Uh oh."

"I know. I think...I was falling out of love with him... and falling _for_ someone else."

"Oh?"

Shiro felt that familiar twinge of jealousy inside him, but he pushed it down. It was not the time for his own feelings to make an appearance.

"Yeah. I fell for Lotor because he was charming and exciting and, I'll admit, a bit of a bad boy and I was into that. But that's all he was. He wasn't caring or loving, he wasn't there when I needed him to be. He was selfish and only wanted me when it was convenient. That's not what I want. That's not _who_ I want."

"You deserve better than that," Shiro said.

"You're damn right, I do," Lance smiled. "You know what I want, Shiro?"

Shiro shook his head.

"I want someone sweet. Someone that I know and trust and that trusts me. Someone funny that makes me happy and will always be there to cheer me up because they worry about how I'm feeling. I want a person who takes care of me and loves me all the time, even when I'm an idiot and hurt his feelings."

Lance put his hand on top of Shiro's at his last statement. Shiro's eyes shot down to their hands and then back up to Lance's eyes, giving him a confused expression.

"What? Me?"

"Yes, Shiro. You're who I'm falling for. That's what I was thinking through in my room. The other night when you came by while I was drunk and helped me, that made me realize that Lotor wasn't good for me. That I didn't want him anymore. I want you."

Shiro was having a hard time believing their conversation was real. Was he actually being given a chance? Did Lance actually say that he was falling for him?

"I- But you guys just broke up."

"I know. And I'm not saying today, or even tomorrow. I'd like to take it slow and work our way up to it. But, if you'll have me..."

Lance left his statement open, hoping for an answer from Shiro.

"Y-Yes," he said when he realized it wasn't a dream. "Yes, I'll have you. Of course I will."

Lance just smiled and gripped Shiro's hand tighter. The older man blushed and smiled back, happy that he finally had a shot with the person he'd loved for so long.

"Wait, Lotor is going to kill me if he sees us together."

"Nah, he won't. He's not even a student here, so why would he come to campus now that we're broken up? And even if he does come, I'll call the campus police on him."

"I'd love to see that," Shiro laughed.

Lance's hand was still around his, so he laced their fingers together, smiling contently with how perfectly they fit together.

He didn't mind going slow. Slow was great. Slow was perfect! He would go as slow as Lance needed because he cared for him that much. And when the time came, he would make sure to be the best boyfriend that he could because he cared for Lance, and he knew Lance cared for him too.


End file.
